Publishing

The UK games industry is pumping iron to win a Las Vegas holiday in MCV’s industry fitness challenge, in association with UFC Personal Trainer. So how are they doing? Well, a number of the competitors have already seen signs of weight loss. Weigh-in sessions have shown that TeePee Games’ Darren …

EA has moved to acquire social and casual games specialist PopCap for a deal that could eventually be worth $1.3bn. The publisher has bought the firm – best known for hit casual titles Plants vs Zombies, Peggle,Bejeweled and Zuma – for $650m in cash plus $100m in stock. PopCap’s owners …

Speaking to MCV earlier today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has that his company has made its fourth casual gaming acquisition in two and a half years. The publisher has acquired Paris-based studio Owlient, developer of a number of free-to-play titles, owner of the Howrse IP and home of some 2m …

CEO Yves Guillemot tells Develop the firm is prepared to buy again in new online push

Shane Kim, one of the key executives behind Microsoft’s Xbox push, has been appointed to the board of directors at global games retailer GameStop. Kim retired from Microsoft in 2009 when he was at the time serving as the corporate VP of strategy and business development at the Interactive Entertainment …

Kikizo.com has revived its original name as part of a rebrand that takes the site beyond video games. Formerly known as Video Games Daily, the site now positions itself as a general interest entertainment and lifestyle blog, focusing on gaming, film, TV, music, and technology – all summed up by …

Electronic Arts has acquired the social games studio Ohai, according to reports. The deal has not been confirmed by EA, though investment publication Venturebeat believes the studio has been purchased for a small fee. Ohai raised $6 million in January 2009, though its first major Facebook project, the vampire MMO …

SouthPeak Interactive has teamed up with a new publishing label to drive its digital business forward. Publisher 7sixty has been established today which will focus on downloadable and boxed console, PC, smartphone and tablet games. It is based in Texas but has also opened an office in the UK in …

New owners for the Facebook and Flash studio Ohai, according to reports

Sony Online Entertainment’s community relations director Linda Carlson has detailed the reasons behind the recently announced decision to call time on long-running MMO Star Wars: Galaxieslater this year. And amongst other things, the impending arrival of EA and BioWare’s MMO rival The Old Republic has been blamed. "It was time …